Exam question 4 · Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes

Determine the meaning of the term "teething problems" when applied to a newly installed system.

Mova's choice: option 1 · The right answer: option 4 · wrong ✗ · Who acts: you · What happens: determine, apply, install, mean · To what, where: meaning, term

This is exam question 4 of lesson 34 «Soft words for hard things: failure and mistakes» of the euphemisms course of Mova's primary school, asked in stiff, formal language. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: the test at school.

The question

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Determine	determine	VERB	Mood=Imp VerbForm=Fin	root	root
2	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	3 meaning	det
3	meaning	meaning	NOUN	Number=Sing	1 Determine	obj
4	of	of	ADP	_	6 term	case
5	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	6 term	det
6	term	term	NOUN	Number=Sing	3 meaning	nmod
7	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 problems	punct
8	teething	teething	NOUN	Number=Sing	9 problems	compound
9	problems	problem	NOUN	Number=Plur	6 term	appos
10	"	"	PUNCT	_	9 problems	punct
11	when	when	ADV	PronType=Int	12 applied	advmod
12	applied	apply	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Determine	advcl
13	to	to	ADP	_	17 system	case
14	a	a	DET	Definite=Ind PronType=Art	17 system	det
15	newly	newly	ADV	_	16 installed	advmod
16	installed	install	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	17 system	amod
17	system	system	NOUN	Number=Sing	12 applied	obl
18	.	.	PUNCT	_	1 Determine	punct

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	other	roles by
1	determine	imperative	you not said here	the meaning of the term		vn discover-84 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent meaning=Topic
2	apply	participle	you not said here		to a installed system	vn use-105.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
3	install	participle			newly property	vn appoint-29.1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent
4	mean			the term		nom meaning «communication transitive»: of=patient

One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

The options

Option 1 · ← Mova's choice

Dental complaints among the system's operators

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Dental	dental	ADJ	Degree=Pos	2 complaints	amod
2	complaints	complaint	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
3	among	among	ADP	_	7 operators	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 system	det
5	system	system	NOUN	Number=Sing	7 operators	nmod:poss
6	's	's	PART	_	5 system	case
7	operators	operator	NOUN	Number=Plur	2 complaints	nmod

The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

Option 2

Defects arising from excessive age

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Defects	defect	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	arising	arise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Defects	acl
3	from	from	ADP	_	5 age	case
4	excessive	excessive	ADJ	Degree=Pos	5 age	amod
5	age	age	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 arising	obl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	gerund	Defects not said here				from excessive age		vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme

Option 3

Difficulties associated with the mastication of food

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Difficulties	difficulty	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	associated	associate	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	1 Difficulties	acl
3	with	with	ADP	_	5 mastication	case
4	the	the	DET	Definite=Def PronType=Art	5 mastication	det
5	mastication	mastication	NOUN	Number=Sing	2 associated	obl
6	of	of	ADP	_	7 food	case
7	food	food	NOUN	Number=Sing	5 mastication	nmod

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	associate	participle		Difficulties not said here				with the mastication of food	vn amalgamate-22.2-2 «NP V PP»: agent=Patient with mastication=Co-Patient
2	masticate			food					nom mastication «act transitive»: of=patient

Option 4 · ✓ the right answer

Faults arising in something recently introduced

The words, one row each (CoNLL-U)

#	word	lemma	UPOS	features	head	relation
1	Faults	fault	NOUN	Number=Plur	root	root
2	arising	arise	VERB	VerbForm=Ger	1 Faults	acl
3	in	in	ADP	_	4 something	case
4	something	something	PRON	Number=Sing PronType=Ind	2 arising	obl
5	recently	recently	ADV	_	6 introduced	advmod
6	introduced	introduce	VERB	Tense=Past VerbForm=Part Voice=Pass	4 something	acl

#	verb	tense, mood	who	what, whom	to whom	where	when	other	roles by
1	arise	gerund	Faults not said here			something			vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in something=Location
2	introduce	participle						recently property	vn amalgamate-22.2-3-1 «NP V ADVP-Middle»: agent=Patient

Text: the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (world/data/school/), as the course runner gave them to the student. Trees: Mova's own parse — the en model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. Frames: Mova's frames reader (prag), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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